Professionals from Pune double up as mentors to rural kids

As the government is trying to bridge the gap between the country’s urban and rural areas, a group of working professionals in Pune have created a unique concept called ‘Urban to Rural Student Mentoring.’

This endeavour sees a group comprising 70 to 80 professionals — some of them self-employed — reaching out to rural students from remote areas with pamphlets pasted outside schools bearing a mobile number and a note reading: ‘What do you aspire to be? If you need assistance, please call on the number below’.

If a student aspires to be a mechanical engineer, his message would be sent to an engineer with experience in a reputed company who would take on the responsibility of guiding the student towards his goal.

“Two years ago, we started this project after feeling that rural students find it difficult to choose the right career option compared to their urban counterparts; and the main reason for this is the lack of proper career guidance and mentoring,” said Ravi Ghate, director of SMSONE and the brain behind the project.

He said that the concept took root during discussions with friends.

Ghate’s friends were either employed by big firms or were running their own enterprises.

“We went to rural areas in districts like Ahmednagar, Solapur, Sangali, Akola, Yawatmal, Dhule, Wardha and started pasting pamphlets outside schools immediately after the class 12 examinations were over,” said Ghate.

After some days,  calls and messages started pouring in and several students and parents started calling, seeking assistance.

“We then, as per the category, distributed the messages to working professionals related to the respective fields and these mentors started calling the students,” he said.

Akshay Shinde, 19, from Karmala in Solapur district, who is now studying to become a mechanical engineer, was one such person who got the right guidance from his mentor Jaideep Pathare, who is self-employed.

“In the HSC exams, I secured 86 per cent; however, as my family was not educated, i was confused as to which stream I should choose. Later, I came across the pamphlet and called up the number and expressed that I would like to be an engineer and sought assistance,” said Akshay, whose father is a gardener. “On the same evening, Jaideep sir called me and told me that he would be mentoring me to achieve my goal. Thereafter, he started giving me information on entrance tests. He checked my aptitude and told me that I should take up mechanical engineering.”

Jaideep provided Akshay with study material for the entrance exam, helped him clear the entrance test and gain admission to AISSMS college of Engineering in Pune.

While talking to dna, Jaideep said that more than 10,000 students with a rural  background had called the group, and 5000 students have benefited from the project.